Thursday, July 23, 2009

Final Tattoo Design















I had been asked by a friend to design a tattoo for her. Size approximately 1" high by 2" wide. She had found a site that had angelic symbols and she liked the symbol for hope instead of the traditional anchor. I did several variations on the theme. She finally chose one that incorporated the angel symbol, script, and a butterfly.


My friend traveled from Iowa to visit and to have the tattoo done. On a reference from another friend, we traveled north of the city to Zaza Ink and the talented and capable hands of Kerwin.

I had no clue what was involved in tattooing. Kerwin explained that over time, fine lines as used in calligraphy would blur. He looked at my design and informed my friend that to prevent blurring he would have to make a few alterations. The antennae of the butterfly were too close together and the upstroke of the descender of the "g" would have to be lowered. Other than that the spacing was fine. Color me beaming.


At first, I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch the process, but curiousity got the better of me. The original design was photocopied and then transferred to the skin using some goop. I never thought to ask what the goop was. The design was transferred to the skin and looked like a temporary tattoo.















Kerwin went over the design and meticulously drew the strokes and touched up the thick and thin lines. He worked from right to left.















and brought my design to life.















What a rush to have my work on living canvas.

2 comments:

  1. Ugh! You were supposed to photoshop the arm to make it look muscular!!!! It's LOVELY and LOVED! You rule!!!

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  2. loved the whole tattoo story! Also am totally jealous you and my dag sis got time together. i finally did my own tattoo (on where my reconstructed boob used to be...what a rush, have no feeling there so it was great fun & the design guy worked with me!) Will show an R rated pic soon! Never thought I'd get something that would be old & saggy/baggy someday, but this Dragon Queen was really needing to be there! mostly just medical people get to see her, LOL.

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